Qantas cancelling 5 of my ticketed Oneworld Award Booking Business Flights - not taking payment and ticketing in time

[Flying Rock]

Hey AFF Community,

Qantas Bronze Member here.

Thought I'd share how disastrous it's been trying to arrange my first Qantas Oneworld Business Award Booking (Business redemption, capped 318K QFF).
At every step, there have been roadblocks and obstacles.

For the past year I have been arranging Qantas Oneworld Award booking and recently got to finalising all my routes on my itinerary.
I had just one segment (KUL-ADL) to be ticketed.
I have had great issues with staff inexperience, payment and ticketing.

Staff inexperience
Some call operators are not familiar with the Oneworld Award, or tell me that existing bookings cannot be changed (adding or changing flights), stating that I need to create a new booking. Incorrect.

The call operators appear to have very little capacity and authority.
Everything that needs to be actioned seems to need to go through the Qantas Support team, for whom the Qantas call operator and you together must also wait and be on hold (often, up to hours). Very inefficient.

Payment problems
To get Qantas to accept payment – their payment systems are often down or buggy if an itinerary has mixed currencies – has been a challenge.
But eventually after numerous, lengthy calls, I managed to pay for all my flights.
I was relieved, excited, and thought everything would be good, pending ticketing issuance, which I have repeatedly called Qantas to action.

Ticketing problems
I have called Qantas about 10 times in the past 48 hours to get my flights in my itinerary re-ticketed.
Each time, despite reaching an operator, who puts me on hold while he/she speaks to Qantas Support, we get disconnected. Or I am told that my itinerary will be ticketed in the next 24 hours and to not worry.

I request the operator to call back if disconnection occurs and am promised such, but do not get called back, so need to call again.

However, due to system issues, while waiting for ticketing in the past 24 hours, many of my reward flights have been cancelled and lost, frustratingly.

My Itinerary (single booking):
3 March 2023 - ZQN-SYD - X - fine - paid, ticketed
1 May 2023 - SYD-DOH-WAW (Qatar) - U - these were paid and had been ticketed (since June 2022) but all got auto-cancelled today.
28 May 2023 - WAW-DOH-KUL-ADL (Qatar and Malaysia Airlines) - U - the first two segments were paid and ticketed, awaiting the 3rd segment to be ticketed. All got auto-cancelled today.
21 August 2023 - BRIS-SYD-SIN - X, Z - fine - paid, ticketed

All of my five business flights in May 2023 have been cancelled.
They were still on my itinerary this morning, but in the past few hours, gone!
I am told they were 'auto-cancelled', or perhaps the phone operator unintentionally cancelled them after touching the booking.

This is not the first booking where my classic reward flights have been cancelled.

I have called Qantas, who tell me they will request a re-instatement for those 4 coveted Qatar flights, but from previous experience with a different booking where reward flights were auto-cancelled (still awaiting re-instatement; it's been over a month, with no followup), I doubt I will get them back. I have asked if they can convert a commercial QF booking to a reward flight, but the Qantas Frequent Flyer team (authority for rewards) is not working on the weekend...

I have also emailed Ms Stephanie Tully, who had previously passed me to another escalations team for aforementioned different booking, where no resolution was found (no re-instatement of auto-cancelled Qatar reward flights to be seen). I will see how she will help with this booking. Hoping she or whoever she refers me to can.

TLDR: Qantas cancels 5 paid classic business reward flights without notice. Months of planning and days on the phone with Qantas wasted.

Yes, sure, Oneworld Award may be good value for point redemption, but if it's going to this hard and waste so much time and still not eventuate with the desired outcome – is pursuing it worthwhile?

Hotels, attractions all booked. Trip plans ruined.
Sad, stressed. What to do?
Would you kindly please help AFF, would really appreciate your help.

Wish I had read this earlier to know the horror to expect:

Warning: Don't Change Qantas Reward Bookings via Call Centre!

There appears to be a systematic problem where Qantas call centre staff are accidentally cancelling confirmed Classic Flight Reward bookings when

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Disappointed, desperate, and frustrated,
Flying Rock

 

[DC3]

Hey AFF Community,

Qantas Bronze Member here.

Thought I'd share how disastrous it's been trying to arrange my first Qantas Oneworld Business Award Booking (Business redemption, capped 318K QFF).

You are not alone. There’s been a lot of this sort of thing happening. More in this thread:

"oneworld" award (132.4K/249.6K/318K/455K) Planning - The Definitive Thread

Need some guidance here, and hope someone can help. I have a OneWorld Classic Business Reward booking commencing on Sep 14 returning on Nov 1, with about 12 flight legs involved. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are a slight chance of having to do one of the following: - cancel one...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[MJHoops]

Just sue them in your states consumer tribunal
Only way you will get someone with authority to help you
It’s ridiculous

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yeah, the agents claiming they cannot add sectors has been discussed in some detail in a dedicated thread here on AFF. The problem is that the Qantas Frequent Flyer terms and conditions actually state you cannot add a sector. The compelling argument against that however is that the fare conditions - which appear immediately below each reward sector when you choose it - contradict the terms and conditions and state you can change any sector, including the sector’s destination. This effectively allows you to add a sector.

Seems the new call centre staff are being trained in the ‘cannot add a sector’ rather than the fare rules.

If you run up against this problem in further, direct the call centre to the fare conditions.

 

[DC3]

Anyway, we know that we can have up to 15 sectors in a OWA itinerary, so if I initially book five of those then I can add up to another ten (pauses to check the maths)

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Just sue them in your states consumer tribunal
Only way you will get someone with authority to help you
It’s ridiculous

I am not a lawyer, but I suspect that an argument could be made (at a minimum) that you made hotel and other ancillary travel booking on the reliance that Qantas would honour the flights booked with them. I cannot comment on Australian consumer law, but I suspect that Qantas can't wring their hands of their obligations to you as a traveller by cancelling your flights either. Generally if an airline cancels your flights the onus is on them to rebook you on flights that will get you to your intended destinations, even if that might mean booking with another airline.

-RooFlyer88

 

[greengoo]

I've had a similar experience almost word for word. We managed to salvage part of our trip and just settled for economy seats for what remained, since we had already booked hotels and activities.

Dealing with Qantas is Kafkaesque, and I will avoid flying Qantas in future.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Dealing with Qantas is Kafkaesque, and I will avoid flying Qantas in future.

I think some folks would prefer speaking to QF representatives in Prague than those at the call centres in South Africa. Heck, I even hear Prague's Franz Kafka International Airport is much easier to navigate than Sydney!

-RooFlyer88

 

[Capt. Clarence Oveur]

Hey AFF Community,

Qantas Bronze Member here.

Thought I'd share how disastrous it's been trying to arrange my first Qantas Oneworld Business Award Booking (Business redemption, capped 318K QFF).
At every step, there have been roadblocks and obstacles.

For the past year I have been arranging Qantas Oneworld Award booking and recently got to finalising all my routes on my itinerary.
I had just one segment (KUL-ADL) to be ticketed.
I have had great issues with staff inexperience, payment and ticketing.

Staff inexperience
Some call operators are not familiar with the Oneworld Award, or tell me that existing bookings cannot be changed (adding or changing flights), stating that I need to create a new booking. Incorrect.

The call operators appear to have very little capacity and authority.
Everything that needs to be actioned seems to need to go through the Qantas Support team, for whom the Qantas call operator and you together must also wait and be on hold (often, up to hours). Very inefficient.

Payment problems
To get Qantas to accept payment – their payment systems are often down or buggy if an itinerary has mixed currencies – has been a challenge.
But eventually after numerous, lengthy calls, I managed to pay for all my flights.
I was relieved, excited, and thought everything would be good, pending ticketing issuance, which I have repeatedly called Qantas to action.

Ticketing problems
I have called Qantas about 10 times in the past 48 hours to get my flights in my itinerary re-ticketed.
Each time, despite reaching an operator, who puts me on hold while he/she speaks to Qantas Support, we get disconnected. Or I am told that my itinerary will be ticketed in the next 24 hours and to not worry.

I request the operator to call back if disconnection occurs and am promised such, but do not get called back, so need to call again.

However, due to system issues, while waiting for ticketing in the past 24 hours, many of my reward flights have been cancelled and lost, frustratingly.

My Itinerary (single booking):
3 March 2023 - ZQN-SYD - X - fine - paid, ticketed
1 May 2023 - SYD-DOH-WAW (Qatar) - U - these were paid and had been ticketed (since June 2022) but all got auto-cancelled today.
28 May 2023 - WAW-DOH-KUL-ADL (Qatar and Malaysia Airlines) - U - the first two segments were paid and ticketed, awaiting the 3rd segment to be ticketed. All got auto-cancelled today.
21 August 2023 - BRIS-SYD-SIN - X, Z - fine - paid, ticketed

All of my five business flights in May 2023 have been cancelled.
They were still on my itinerary this morning, but in the past few hours, gone!
I am told they were 'auto-cancelled', or perhaps the phone operator unintentionally cancelled them after touching the booking.

This is not the first booking where my classic reward flights have been cancelled.

I have called Qantas, who tell me they will request a re-instatement for those 4 coveted Qatar flights, but from previous experience with a different booking where reward flights were auto-cancelled (still awaiting re-instatement; it's been over a month, with no followup), I doubt I will get them back. I have asked if they can convert a commercial QF booking to a reward flight, but the Qantas Frequent Flyer team (authority for rewards) is not working on the weekend...

I have also emailed Ms Stephanie Tully, who had previously passed me to another escalations team for aforementioned different booking, where no resolution was found (no re-instatement of auto-cancelled Qatar reward flights to be seen). I will see how she will help with this booking. Hoping she or whoever she refers me to can.

TLDR: Qantas cancels 5 paid classic business reward flights without notice. Months of planning and days on the phone with Qantas wasted.

Yes, sure, Oneworld Award may be good value for point redemption, but if it's going to this hard and waste so much time and still not eventuate with the desired outcome – is pursuing it worthwhile?

Hotels, attractions all booked. Trip plans ruined.
Sad, stressed. What to do?
Would you kindly please help AFF, would really appreciate your help.

Wish I had read this earlier to know the horror to expect:

Warning: Don't Change Qantas Reward Bookings via Call Centre!

There appears to be a systematic problem where Qantas call centre staff are accidentally cancelling confirmed Classic Flight Reward bookings when

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Disappointed, desperate, and frustrated,
Flying Rock

Hey Flying Rock - Clarence here...sorry to hear your story....I've had pretty much the same happen to me...you are not alone....I went to the point of rebooking my whole award flight 11 sectors online again and paid then cancelled/expired original booking as it waited to have taxes costed and be ticketed....Hopefully you will get your flights sorted over time. Hang in there it will be worth it in the end.
Oveur

 

[Seano987]

Hey AFF Community,

Qantas Bronze Member here.

Thought I'd share how disastrous it's been trying to arrange my first Qantas Oneworld Business Award Booking (Business redemption, capped 318K QFF).
At every step, there have been roadblocks and obstacles.

For the past year I have been arranging Qantas Oneworld Award booking and recently got to finalising all my routes on my itinerary.
I had just one segment (KUL-ADL) to be ticketed.
I have had great issues with staff inexperience, payment and ticketing.

Staff inexperience
Some call operators are not familiar with the Oneworld Award, or tell me that existing bookings cannot be changed (adding or changing flights), stating that I need to create a new booking. Incorrect.

The call operators appear to have very little capacity and authority.
Everything that needs to be actioned seems to need to go through the Qantas Support team, for whom the Qantas call operator and you together must also wait and be on hold (often, up to hours). Very inefficient.

Payment problems
To get Qantas to accept payment – their payment systems are often down or buggy if an itinerary has mixed currencies – has been a challenge.
But eventually after numerous, lengthy calls, I managed to pay for all my flights.
I was relieved, excited, and thought everything would be good, pending ticketing issuance, which I have repeatedly called Qantas to action.

Ticketing problems
I have called Qantas about 10 times in the past 48 hours to get my flights in my itinerary re-ticketed.
Each time, despite reaching an operator, who puts me on hold while he/she speaks to Qantas Support, we get disconnected. Or I am told that my itinerary will be ticketed in the next 24 hours and to not worry.

I request the operator to call back if disconnection occurs and am promised such, but do not get called back, so need to call again.

However, due to system issues, while waiting for ticketing in the past 24 hours, many of my reward flights have been cancelled and lost, frustratingly.

My Itinerary (single booking):
3 March 2023 - ZQN-SYD - X - fine - paid, ticketed
1 May 2023 - SYD-DOH-WAW (Qatar) - U - these were paid and had been ticketed (since June 2022) but all got auto-cancelled today.
28 May 2023 - WAW-DOH-KUL-ADL (Qatar and Malaysia Airlines) - U - the first two segments were paid and ticketed, awaiting the 3rd segment to be ticketed. All got auto-cancelled today.
21 August 2023 - BRIS-SYD-SIN - X, Z - fine - paid, ticketed

All of my five business flights in May 2023 have been cancelled.
They were still on my itinerary this morning, but in the past few hours, gone!
I am told they were 'auto-cancelled', or perhaps the phone operator unintentionally cancelled them after touching the booking.

This is not the first booking where my classic reward flights have been cancelled.

I have called Qantas, who tell me they will request a re-instatement for those 4 coveted Qatar flights, but from previous experience with a different booking where reward flights were auto-cancelled (still awaiting re-instatement; it's been over a month, with no followup), I doubt I will get them back. I have asked if they can convert a commercial QF booking to a reward flight, but the Qantas Frequent Flyer team (authority for rewards) is not working on the weekend...

I have also emailed Ms Stephanie Tully, who had previously passed me to another escalations team for aforementioned different booking, where no resolution was found (no re-instatement of auto-cancelled Qatar reward flights to be seen). I will see how she will help with this booking. Hoping she or whoever she refers me to can.

TLDR: Qantas cancels 5 paid classic business reward flights without notice. Months of planning and days on the phone with Qantas wasted.

Yes, sure, Oneworld Award may be good value for point redemption, but if it's going to this hard and waste so much time and still not eventuate with the desired outcome – is pursuing it worthwhile?

Hotels, attractions all booked. Trip plans ruined.
Sad, stressed. What to do?
Would you kindly please help AFF, would really appreciate your help.

Wish I had read this earlier to know the horror to expect:

Warning: Don't Change Qantas Reward Bookings via Call Centre!

There appears to be a systematic problem where Qantas call centre staff are accidentally cancelling confirmed Classic Flight Reward bookings when

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Disappointed, desperate, and frustrated,
Flying Rock

Hi Flying Rock,
I've also had similar issues with Qatar flights dropping off my booking when I made changes to other flights in the booking. Got sick of constantly calling and getting no resolution - had heard from forums that reinstatement of flights by Qatar was unlikely anyway.
In the end I found a paid itinerary with Qantas (plus one leg at the end that had reward availability with BA) that suited, and asked for Qantas to open up reward availability. This was QF9 in the end. They should be able to do this on a Qantas flight, but can't open up reward availability with a partner.
So am now flying Qantas in instead of Qatar to Europe, but at least still in business.
If you are only transiting in KL on the way home (ie. have no other reason to be visiting KL) then you could also request that Qantas open up seats on your return leg, from London back to Adelaide. And if there is reward availability from Warsaw to London you can tack that on in the process too. It may make a longer journey time as you'll be backtracking through London (and you'll need to pay the higher taxes for flying business out of London).
In the end we decided to settle with Qantas flights instead of Qatar and have the saga done with.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Hey AFF Community,

Qantas Bronze Member here.

Thought I'd share how disastrous it's been trying to arrange my first Qantas Oneworld Business Award Booking (Business redemption, capped 318K QFF).
At every step, there have been roadblocks and obstacles.

For the past year I have been arranging Qantas Oneworld Award booking and recently got to finalising all my routes on my itinerary.
I had just one segment (KUL-ADL) to be ticketed.
I have had great issues with staff inexperience, payment and ticketing.

Staff inexperience
Some call operators are not familiar with the Oneworld Award, or tell me that existing bookings cannot be changed (adding or changing flights), stating that I need to create a new booking. Incorrect.

The call operators appear to have very little capacity and authority.
Everything that needs to be actioned seems to need to go through the Qantas Support team, for whom the Qantas call operator and you together must also wait and be on hold (often, up to hours). Very inefficient.

Payment problems
To get Qantas to accept payment – their payment systems are often down or buggy if an itinerary has mixed currencies – has been a challenge.
But eventually after numerous, lengthy calls, I managed to pay for all my flights.
I was relieved, excited, and thought everything would be good, pending ticketing issuance, which I have repeatedly called Qantas to action.

Ticketing problems
I have called Qantas about 10 times in the past 48 hours to get my flights in my itinerary re-ticketed.
Each time, despite reaching an operator, who puts me on hold while he/she speaks to Qantas Support, we get disconnected. Or I am told that my itinerary will be ticketed in the next 24 hours and to not worry.

I request the operator to call back if disconnection occurs and am promised such, but do not get called back, so need to call again.

However, due to system issues, while waiting for ticketing in the past 24 hours, many of my reward flights have been cancelled and lost, frustratingly.

My Itinerary (single booking):
3 March 2023 - ZQN-SYD - X - fine - paid, ticketed
1 May 2023 - SYD-DOH-WAW (Qatar) - U - these were paid and had been ticketed (since June 2022) but all got auto-cancelled today.
28 May 2023 - WAW-DOH-KUL-ADL (Qatar and Malaysia Airlines) - U - the first two segments were paid and ticketed, awaiting the 3rd segment to be ticketed. All got auto-cancelled today.
21 August 2023 - BRIS-SYD-SIN - X, Z - fine - paid, ticketed

All of my five business flights in May 2023 have been cancelled.
They were still on my itinerary this morning, but in the past few hours, gone!
I am told they were 'auto-cancelled', or perhaps the phone operator unintentionally cancelled them after touching the booking.

This is not the first booking where my classic reward flights have been cancelled.

I have called Qantas, who tell me they will request a re-instatement for those 4 coveted Qatar flights, but from previous experience with a different booking where reward flights were auto-cancelled (still awaiting re-instatement; it's been over a month, with no followup), I doubt I will get them back. I have asked if they can convert a commercial QF booking to a reward flight, but the Qantas Frequent Flyer team (authority for rewards) is not working on the weekend...

I have also emailed Ms Stephanie Tully, who had previously passed me to another escalations team for aforementioned different booking, where no resolution was found (no re-instatement of auto-cancelled Qatar reward flights to be seen). I will see how she will help with this booking. Hoping she or whoever she refers me to can.

TLDR: Qantas cancels 5 paid classic business reward flights without notice. Months of planning and days on the phone with Qantas wasted.

Yes, sure, Oneworld Award may be good value for point redemption, but if it's going to this hard and waste so much time and still not eventuate with the desired outcome – is pursuing it worthwhile?

Hotels, attractions all booked. Trip plans ruined.
Sad, stressed. What to do?
Would you kindly please help AFF, would really appreciate your help.

Wish I had read this earlier to know the horror to expect:

Warning: Don't Change Qantas Reward Bookings via Call Centre!

There appears to be a systematic problem where Qantas call centre staff are accidentally cancelling confirmed Classic Flight Reward bookings when

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Disappointed, desperate, and frustrated,
Flying Rock

How stressful and disappointing.
I would suggest trying again this morning if you have the stamina, as yesterday (Saturday I was able to get points that I had been waiting for on a cancelled CR booking reinstated by the agent contacting the Rewards Team.
I was on hold for about 30 minutes.
So maybe/hopefully Rewards are working on the weekend? Good luck

 

[scottie222]

Hi Flying Rock,
I've also had similar issues with Qatar flights dropping off my booking when I made changes to other flights in the booking. Got sick of constantly calling and getting no resolution - had heard from forums that reinstatement of flights by Qatar was unlikely anyway.
In the end I found a paid itinerary with Qantas (plus one leg at the end that had reward availability with BA) that suited, and asked for Qantas to open up reward availability. This was QF9 in the end. They should be able to do this on a Qantas flight, but can't open up reward availability with a partner.
So am now flying Qantas in instead of Qatar to Europe, but at least still in business.
If you are only transiting in KL on the way home (ie. have no other reason to be visiting KL) then you could also request that Qantas open up seats on your return leg, from London back to Adelaide. And if there is reward availability from Warsaw to London you can tack that on in the process too. It may make a longer journey time as you'll be backtracking through London (and you'll need to pay the higher taxes for flying business out of London).
In the end we decided to settle with Qantas flights instead of Qatar and have the saga done with.

Hey mate, I’m in a similar situation. Can I just confirm that I understand correctly, you found a Qantas flight business seats and asked Qantas to open those for reward availability? Did you call through to an Aus call centre to get it done? I’d be looking to do similar so want to make sure I understand your process to that they could replicateS

 

[Seano987]

Hey mate, I’m in a similar situation. Can I just confirm that I understand correctly, you found a Qantas flight business seats and asked Qantas to open those for reward availability? Did you call through to an Aus call centre to get it done? I’d be looking to do similar so want to make sure I understand your process to that they could replicateS

Hi,
So essentially the flights we originally had with Qatar were Melbourne - Doha - Madrid.
Once it was looking likely these weren't going to be reinstated, I searched for paid fares from Melbourne through to Madrid - image attached.
I then called Qantas (am only a Bronze member to pretty sure I got through to South Africa call centre) and asked for Qantas to open up award availability on QF9 in business class, given that it was the fault of Qantas that I lost my flights and they haven't been able to give me a resolution and I needed to start booking other parts of my holiday. I was pretty firm (but polite) that I needed a resolution that day as we'd been waiting close to a month by that stage.
They put me on hold and then came back and said they can open up 2 x rewards seats on that flight for us. I had previously checked that there was award availability in business on BA 458 so they were able to add this on as a connection to QF9 for me to get us to Madrid.
Just be aware that they can only open additional award availability on a Qantas operated flight - this is why we had to go all the way through to London then down to Madrid.
Good Luck!

 

[scottie222]

Hi,
So essentially the flights we originally had with Qatar were Melbourne - Doha - Madrid.
Once it was looking likely these weren't going to be reinstated, I searched for paid fares from Melbourne through to Madrid - image attached.
I then called Qantas (am only a Bronze member to pretty sure I got through to South Africa call centre) and asked for Qantas to open up award availability on QF9 in business class, given that it was the fault of Qantas that I lost my flights and they haven't been able to give me a resolution and I needed to start booking other parts of my holiday. I was pretty firm (but polite) that I needed a resolution that day as we'd been waiting close to a month by that stage.
They put me on hold and then came back and said they can open up 2 x rewards seats on that flight for us. I had previously checked that there was award availability in business on BA 458 so they were able to add this on as a connection to QF9 for me to get us to Madrid.
Just be aware that they can only open additional award availability on a Qantas operated flight - this is why we had to go all the way through to London then down to Madrid.
Good Luck!

Thanks for the the detailed explanation, really appreciate it mate.

 

[scottie222]

Hi,
So essentially the flights we originally had with Qatar were Melbourne - Doha - Madrid.
Once it was looking likely these weren't going to be reinstated, I searched for paid fares from Melbourne through to Madrid - image attached.
I then called Qantas (am only a Bronze member to pretty sure I got through to South Africa call centre) and asked for Qantas to open up award availability on QF9 in business class, given that it was the fault of Qantas that I lost my flights and they haven't been able to give me a resolution and I needed to start booking other parts of my holiday. I was pretty firm (but polite) that I needed a resolution that day as we'd been waiting close to a month by that stage.
They put me on hold and then came back and said they can open up 2 x rewards seats on that flight for us. I had previously checked that there was award availability in business on BA 458 so they were able to add this on as a connection to QF9 for me to get us to Madrid.
Just be aware that they can only open additional award availability on a Qantas operated flight - this is why we had to go all the way through to London then down to Madrid.
Good Luck!

Hey mate just another question - did you have to pay the taxes etc?

 

[Seano987]

Hey mate just another question - did you have to pay the taxes etc?

In the end we got a refund of around $90 per person as the taxes and surcharges for the Qantas flights were less than the Qatar flights we originally booked.

 

[scottie222]

In the end we got a refund of around $90 per person as the taxes and surcharges for the Qantas flights were less than the Qatar flights we originally booked.

Can confirm this worked for me - so thank you mate. Managed to find a Qantas flight from LA to SYD business which (after dealing with 2-3 different Qantas reps) we managed to book via a lovely Fiji consultant.

 

[Flying Rock]

Dear AFF community,

Update: Saga finally resolved after two auto-cancellations and two manual re-instatements of 5 business classic reward flights.

In brief, shortly after my post and my reaching out to Qantas in Sept 2022, I was assigned to an escalations team member who successfully re-instated my Qatar and Malaysia business flights, but due to ticketing delay for a whole month, the flights were auto-cancelled yet again.
Despite reassuring me that she will manage my case until completion, my assigned female Auckland agent went AWOL on me. No joke. Total silence.

After many long calls (2+ hours) to the general support line (5++ different agents of varying experience) and several emails to Ms Tully – who was of no further help, disappointingly – it is only in the past week that the general support team (South Africa) were able to re-instate my flights, collect pending payment, and ticket the entire itinerary. (Hell yes!)

I had wanted to add classic reward flights, but they've since become unavailable while waiting for this drama to resolve. Nevertheless, I am just content that this is finally ticketed and I do not need to make further communications with Qantas.

Have learned my lesson with OneWorld Award bookings and will seriously consider deeply before making future bookings.

Checking out, and getting some rest,
Flying Rock

 

[Franky]

Dear AFF community,

Update: Saga finally resolved after two auto-cancellations and two manual re-instatements of 5 business classic reward flights.

In brief, shortly after my post and my reaching out to Qantas in Sept 2022, I was assigned to an escalations team member who successfully re-instated my Qatar and Malaysia business flights, but due to ticketing delay for a whole month, the flights were auto-cancelled yet again.
Despite reassuring me that she will manage my case until completion, my assigned female Auckland agent went AWOL on me. No joke. Total silence.

After many long calls (2+ hours) to the general support line (5++ different agents of varying experience) and several emails to Ms Tully – who was of no further help, disappointingly – it is only in the past week that the general support team (South Africa) were able to re-instate my flights, collect pending payment, and ticket the entire itinerary. (Hell yes!)

I had wanted to add classic reward flights, but they've since become unavailable while waiting for this drama to resolve. Nevertheless, I am just content that this is finally ticketed and I do not need to make further communications with Qantas.

Have learned my lesson with OneWorld Award bookings and will seriously consider deeply about future bookings.

Checking out, and getting some rest,
Flying Rock

I think I would do more than seriously consider any future bookings...

 

[Flying Rock]

I think I would do more than seriously consider any future bookings...

Edited for clarity